European Communities Act 1972

Power to make regulations.

3

3.(1) A Minister of State may make regulations for enabling section 2 of this Act to have full effect.

(2) Regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister making the regulations to be necessary for the purposes of the regulations (including provisions repealing, amending or applying, with or without modification, other law, exclusive of this Act).

F20[(3) Regulations under this section may

(a) make provision for offences under the regulations to be prosecuted on indictment, where the Minister of the Government making the regulations considers it necessary for the purpose of giving full effect to

F21[(i) a provision of the treaties governing the European Union, or

(ii) an act, or provision of an act, adopted by an institution of the European Union, an institution of the European Communities or a body competent under those treaties, and ]

(b) make such provision as that Minister of the Government considers necessary for the purpose of ensuring that penalties in respect of an offence prosecuted in that manner are effective and proportionate, and have a deterrent effect, having regard to the acts or omissions of which the offence consists, provided that the maximum fine (if any) shall not be greater than 500,000 and the maximum term of imprisonment (if any) shall not be greater than 3 years. ]

(4) Regulations under this section may be made before the 1st day of January, 1973, but regulations so made shall not come into operation before that day.

F22[(5) In this section

maximum fine means the maximum fine to which a person shall be liable on conviction on indictment of an offence;

maximum term of imprisonment means the maximum term of imprisonment to which a person shall be liable on conviction on indictment of an offence. ]

Annotations

Amendments:

F20

Substituted (21.04.2007) by European Communities Act 2007 (18/2007), s. 2(a), commenced on enactment.

F21

Substituted (1.12.2009) by European Union Act 2009 (33/2009), s. 4, S.I. No. 451 of 2009.

F22

Inserted (21.04.2007) by European Communities Act 2007 (18/2007), s. 2(b), commenced on enactment.

Modifications (not altering text):

C2

Application of section restricted by Companies Act 2014 (38/2014), s. 1368, as substituted (26.10.2016) by Finance (Certain European Union and Intergovernmental Obligations) Act 2016 (13/2016), s. 8(c), commenced on enactment.

Conviction on indictment of offences under Irish market abuse law: penalties

[1368. (1) In this section ‘offence created by Irish market abuse law’ means an offence created by regulations falling within paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘Irish market abuse law’ in section 1365(1).

(2) A person who is guilty of an offence created by Irish market abuse law (being an offence expressed by that law to be an offence to which this section applies) shall—

(a) without prejudice to any penalties provided by that law in respect of a summary conviction for the offence, and

(b) notwithstanding section 3 (3) of the European Communities Act 1972 ,

be liable, on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €10,000,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.]

C3

Transitional provision for application of section made (1.06.2002) by European Communities and Swiss Confederation Act 2001 (41/2001), s. 3, S.I. No. 195 of 2002.

Adaptations to take account of Agreements.

3.—(1) Without prejudice to the future exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Act of 1972, any regulations made under the said section 3 which are in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 2 of this Act, and any enactment, or instrument made under an enactment, which implements obligations of the State under the treaties governing the European Communities, shall, as far as practicable, be construed as if, on the coming into operation of section 2 of this Act, they were adapted as required by or under the Agreements.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, in any regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972, and in any enactment, or instrument made under an enactment, any reference to the Member States of the European Communities or to any person who is affected by the treaties governing those Communities shall, in so far as may be necessary to give effect to the obligations of the State pursuant to the Agreements, be construed as including a reference to the Swiss Confederation and any person who is affected by the Agreements.

C4

Transitional provision for application of section made (20.07.1993) by European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 (25/1993), s. 4, commenced on enactment.

Adaptations to take account of EEA Agreement.

4.—(1) Without prejudice to the future exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Act of 1972, any regulations made under the said section 3 which are in force immediately before the coming into operation of section 3 of this Act, and any enactment, or instrument made under an enactment, which implements obligations of the State under the treaties governing the European Communities, shall, as far as practicable, be construed as if, on the coming into operation of section 3 of this Act, they were adapted as required by or under the EEA Agreement.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, in any regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972, and in any enactment, or instrument made under an enactment, any reference to the Member States of the European Communities or to any person who is affected by the treaties governing those Communities shall, in so far as may be necessary to give effect to the obligations of the State pursuant to the EEA Agreement, be construed as including a reference to those States (not being Member States of the said Communities) which are contracting parties to the EEA Agreement and any person who is affected by the EEA Agreement.

C5

Regulations made under section confirmed (20.07.1993) by European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 (25/1993), s. 5, commenced on enactment.

Regulations under Act of 1972.

5.—(1) Without prejudice to the future exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Act of 1972, all regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 prior to the passing of this Act are hereby confirmed as on and from the date upon which they purported to come into operation.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall operate to confirm regulations or any provision of any regulation to the extent only that such confirmation is in accordance with the Constitution.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall be construed to mean that but for this Act, any regulations or provision of regulations would for any reason be invalid having regard to the provisions of the Constitution or otherwise.

(4) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, proceedings in respect of offences committed after the passing of this Act under regulations (whether made before or after such passing) under the Act of 1972 may be instituted at any time within two years from the date of the commission of the offence.

(5) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply to all regulations made under section 3 of the Act of 1972 prior to the passing of this Act subject to any adaptation, amendment or revocation thereof whether by regulations made under the said section 3 or by any Act of the Oireachtas or instrument thereunder.

Editorial Notes:

E4

Large numbers of regulations have been made and continue to be made pursuant to the power in this section. They are too numerous to list here and are available in the Legislation Directory on the Irish Statute Book website at www.irishstatutebook.ie/isbc/s3eutoc.html.

E5

The term “Minister of State” in subs. (1) was redefined (1.01.1978) by Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1977 (28/1977), ss. 1, 2 and 4, S.I. No. 378 of 1977. Sections 1 and 2 described the office and s. 4 amended the Interpretation Act 1937, s. 18 in relation to that Act and subsequent legislation, to the effect that the office which had previously been a Minister of State was now a Minister of the Government. This was confirmed in Interpretation Act 2005 (23/2005), s. 21 and sch. part 1, defining “Minister of the Government” as a member of the Government having charge of a Department of State, and not including a definition of Minister of State.

European Communities Act 2007 (18/2007), s. 4(4) clarified that the 1977 Act, s. 2 (which provides for delegation of power and duties by Ministers of the Government to Ministers of State) shall not apply to a power to make a statutory instrument for a purpose defined in subs. (1) of that section, being: A power to make a statutory instrument conferred on a Minister of the Government by a provision of a statute may be exercised for the purpose of giving effect to a European act if the obligations imposed on the State under the European act concerned relate, in whole, to matters to which that provision relates.

It appears from this that the term “Minister of State” in subs. (1) above should now be construed as “Minister of the Government”.